Russellville will miss RHS historian CochranThis is the last thing I ever said to Stan Cochran: "This lady asked I pass you her contact information. She has a question about a specific athlete (I'm guessing related to her). She wants to know if they still hold a specific record at RHS." If you knew Cochran, you know that is not an odd request. But I did not know at that time he was in the final moments of his life, his battle with cancer coming to an end. I told the lady who contacted m...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSONsports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Looper to play at OzarksTHE COURIER / Submitted Looper to play at Ozarks Russellville's Abbie Looper will play basketball for the University of the Ozarks Lady Eagles. Looper, a three-year letterman, was named to the Class 6A All-Tournament team, selected for All-Conference, All-State and earned the Lady Cyclone Award. Looper, whose parents are Randy and Julie Looper, led the Lady Cyclones in scoring and assists her senior year.

Kennedy wins Bassmaster Elite on final dayFOR THE COURIER Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala., wasn't dominating the event until he weighed 16 pounds, 9 ounces of bass during the final weigh-in to take home $100,000 and the third championship of his career at the GoPro Bassmaster Elite at Lake Dardanelle presented by Econo Lodge. A big bass late in the day on Monday that weighed 5-10 anchored his five-bass limit and pushed his four-day winning weight to 63-12. The last time Kennedy topped a...

Post 20 falls to Fort SmithFORT SMITH -- The Russellville American Legion Post 20 Patriots were defeated 11-5 by Fort Smith Forsgren on Friday. After tying the score 1-1 in the top of the third inning, Fort Smtih scored five in the third, two in the fifth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth. Russelville's remaining runs came with two in the top of the fourth, one in the six and one in the ninth. Joel Barker was the losing pitcher. He last 2.33 innings, gave up six...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Goodness gracious that snake's on the lineScott Rook took the big snake award on Day 1 at Lake Dardanelle. It carries no prize, only surprise. "I flipped a clump of grass," Rook said. "My bait fell down in there, and the line jumped. So I just set the hook and the snake came flying out of the grass all the way into the boat. It scared the hell out of me, and my marshal is from Canada, so it sure enough scared him." It was a water snake (non-poisonous) species Rook estimated at 30 inch...

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BY STEVE WRIGHT
bassmaster.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Top-water fishing season has arrivedWith the arrival of the Bassmaster Elite Series, area anglers are going to get a good look at several ways to catch fish on our home lake. But I was most excited to see how the pros tackled the top-water bite on our beloved lake as they arrived right at the peak of the top-water season. We all look forward to the day we can pick up our favorite top-water lure and catch fish on it all day long, and Dardanelle is a lake that you can do exactly t...

Bono Lake project too important to give up onNortheast Arkansas is not blessed with an abundance of lakes and rivers like other parts of our state, so when the Bono Lake project hit the radar we all got excited. A 135-acre lake was what we would call a good start and in 2007 the voters of Craighead County approved a temporary 1-cent sales tax to fund construction of the lake. We were told we'd be fishing by the summer of 2009. After much angst among contractors, engineers, quorum court m...

Elite Series means at least $1 million to local economyA few things have changed since the GoPro Bassmaster Elite Series fished on Lake Dardanelle and visited Russellville in 2014. The community has more dining options for the 109 anglers and 109 co-anglers, not to mention places to shop and things to do when they're not battling bass on Lake Dardanelle. But when you put pen to paper and start doing the numbers on a calculator -- or today, your smartphone -- the impact of the tournament is pretty ...

Mount Ida's Mark Davis Mark Davis of Mount Ida is no stranger to tough tournaments, and during Saturday’s second round of competition, he caught 19 pounds, 4 ounces of bass to take the lead at the GoPro Bassmaster Elite at Lake Dardanelle presented by Econo Lodge. His two-day total is 33-9. Davis has accomplished nearly everything during his distinguished career on the Bassmaster tour, including three Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles and one Bassmaster Cl...

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BY JAMIEDAY MATTHEWS bassmaster.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

ATU takes legal action to restore hoops winsThe Arkansas Tech University Board of Trustees has filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County seeking declaratory judgment and injunctive relief from a penalty levied by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) against the institution. The suit seeks to restore a combined 205 men's and women's basketball victories earned by ATU from 2009-13 that were vacated following an NCAA ruling on June 4, 2015. "Arkansas Tech Univer...

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BY SAM STRASNER
ATU Director of Media RelationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

VanDam takes lead at Lake DardanelleBass-fishing superstar Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., is in an early position to win a record-breaking 24th Bassmaster title. After weighing 19 pounds, 3 ounces, the four-time Classic champion is leading the GoPro Bassmaster Elite at Dardanelle presented by Econo Lodge. With $100,000 and valuable Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points on the line, VanDam fully understands what's at stake. But even the seasoned veteran was surprised at ...

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BY JAMIEDAY MATTHEWSbassmaster.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Local athletes named to All-Star teamsThe Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) announced the rosters for the annual Arkansas All-Star Games for baseball, softball, soccer, football, basketball, volleyball, cheer and dance. The All-Star Games, now in their 62nd year for football and basketball, 16th year for volleyball and ninth year for dance and cheer, offer recently graduated seniors one more chance to participate in the sports they love. The goal is to put the best athletes fr...

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Courier sports staffThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Post 20 baseball season kicks offThe Russellville American Legion Post 20 Patriots opened their season with a 6-2 win over the Fort Smith Kerwins before falling 9-0 to the Fort Smith Sportsmen in the second game of the evening at Tech Field. In the first game, Russellville led 3-0. Kerwins bit back with two runs in the top of the second inning, but the Patriots responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to set what would become the final score. Russellville's Greys...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Moyer continues baseball success at UCAIt's been three years since Mark Moyer struck out 107 and led the Russellville Cylcones to the Class 6A state championship. Since then, Moyer has struck out 48 batters for the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) Bears in 85 innings, put together a 7-3 record and a 3.38 ERA. But his path to pitching NCAA Division I baseball wasn't 100 percent to plan. In 2016, Moyer played in one game for the Bears before being forced to take a medical redshir...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Haralson selected to All-American baseball teamHenderson Sports Information The American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods released its 2017 All-American Team with Henderson State's and Hector alumni Bryant Haralson earning third-team honors. ABCA/Rawlings All-Region first-team selections, which were announced last Wednesday, were nominated for All-America honors. In all divisions, the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Teams will be announced on Wednesday, June 21, and the AB...

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Henderson Sports InformationThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley